Make it: Wrap Bracelet

I have been lusting after one of these multi Wrap bracelets for ages and yet they are so expensive and so I thought I must have the skills and the tools to be able to make my own and voilà, a tutorial is born!

You will need:  Scissors, Superglue (or other strong glue), thin waxed cord, embroidery thread, needle, a button (not in the picture), beads (I chose a combination of 4 different shades of blue - of course), clipboard (or like me, a piece of mount board and a big bulldog clip!)

First, things first.  You will need to find the right length of cord for your bracelet.  If you wrap the cord around your wrist the amount of times you want your bracelet to be, then add some extra for fastening, say about 10cm at least.  Then double that length to make the sides of your bracelet.  Measure the embroidery thread - you will need it to be at least twice as long as your cord.

Next pop a button at the bend of the cord and tie a knot to keep it in place.  You may want to pop a bit of glue onto the knot so that it stays put.  Wait for the glue to dry before going any further.

Put the button under the bulldog clip/clipboard so that it will keep it firmly in place whilst you are making the bracelet.  Separate the two cords and so you have a left and right side - I found it easier to put clips on the bottom of the board aswell to keep these two sides separate and to stop them moving around.

Tie the embroidery thread onto the left cord at the top by the button knot, again a little glue helps it to stay in place.  Then thread a needle onto the other end of your embroidery thread.

Here comes the complicated bit, but once you have it, its a simple repetitive few steps.

From the left hand side put a bead on your thread and pull through, making sure the bead sits in-between the cords. The thread then goes over the top of the right cord and then around and underneath before going back through the bead and underneath the left cord, and pull through - making sure the bead stays in-between the two cords.  

For your next bead, you will just bring the cord up and around the left cord, through the bead and over the right thread, around, underneath and back through the bead and so on.  Keep repeating that same few steps until you come to near the end of your cord (I left about 8cm at the end of the cord).  Knot the embroidery thread on one side of the cord, again pop a bit of glue on the knot to fix it and trim the excess. 

Tie a knot in the cord at the end of your beads to keep it all in place and then leave a gap (for your button to go through) and then tie another knot so that the button will snuggly fit in the gap.  If you are making this bracelet for a friend you may want to do 2 sets of gaps so that they have the option of different lengths. 

Then you are done!  You will end up with a great present to give someone or a lovely treat for yourself.

I have always had a bit of a thing about long wrap bracelets and I really enjoyed making this one.  I think I might make another one with slightly larger beads and a longer length as I think more layers would look great. What do you think? What colour beads would you choose?

H

We would love to see if you have a go at these. Like with all our DIY's if you do, take a pic and share it with us on Twitter or instagram with the hashtag #livelovemake

Make it: A Sewing Clock

A couple of weeks ago at work, H was over visiting and I was bemoaning the fact that I couldn't find a new clock that I liked for Sew Crafty. Our blue plastic 80's Argos special didn't seem to cut it after all the hard work we had done renovating the shop. As usual it was H to the rescue when she suggested that we made one! (yes she is an undiscovered genius) Here is how we went about it. 

We took the old clock to bits, to use the hands and the mechanism. We removed the face and pulled the hands off, which freed up the back with the mechanism and battery pack up from the plastic surround. 

H, Mum and I picked out some scraps from my bits and bobs drawers and got to work. Starting out by doing a little sketch of what things suited what materials. Some things like trimmings would curve but some things were better suited to the straighter numbers. We used a 12" embroidery hoop with calico stretched over it as a base.

I had this sewing machine brooch hanging around my desk for ages and I thought it would be a cute addition as our number 12

 A reel of thread seemed obvious as our number 1 and ric-rac curved just enough to be no.2.

Number 3 was cut out of a fabric scrap, the same I used to cover the clock hands. For number 4 we used ribbon and No.5 was made with half of a broken zip. 

 Number 6 we cut from felt and no.7 was the end of a tape measure 

 (I had used the rest for a previous project)

For 8 I used a vanishing pen and used a coordinating thread and embroidered it in position, Number 9 was lovingly crocheted by my Mum from embroidery thread.

I knew I wanted to use a needle and thread at some point and number 10 seemed to fit really well, I used pinking shears to cut the 0 out of fabric and stitched it in place with a regular needle, then added the bigger needle afterwards to be the number 1. No. 11 was an excuse to use up some cute little buttons that I had been saving and they were the perfect colour.

I used glue to cover the hands in fabric, made a small hole in the calico and attached the mechanism to the back with strong HT2 glue. I used a small scrap to cover up the shadow from the black box that housed the clockworks and pushed the hands into place.

Doesn't it look cute! It is now hanging in its home above the 'care and repair' section by the pattern drawers in Sew Crafty.  It's so much nicer than any of the ones I saw in the shops and suits our little shop to a Tea.

Sammy xxx